Threadless coupling for pipes.



G. W. KERN.

TH LESS COUPLING IOR A manor: rum) MAY 4,

1 O4=8,7O3. I Patented Dec.31, 1912.

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GEORGE W. KERN, OF OIL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T OIL 'WELL SUPELY GDMPANY, 0. PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 011 PENNSYLVANIA.

THREADLESS COUILING FOR IIPES.

Specification of Letters latent.

Ttatzcnted Dec. 31, 191.2.

Application filed may 4, 1912. Serial No. 695,183.

City, in the county of Vcnango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Threadloss Coir piings for Pipes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class cl? pipe couplings especially devised for the laying, of. oil, gas, or water pipes on uneven ground where it is ditlicult and at times impossible to preserve the alinernent of the pipe sections, and where, consequently, tin-coded couplings are not available or advisable.

This class ot couplings, which may he madc from either cast, malleable or wrought metal, is commonly provided with flaring ends t'orthc reception of gaskets and followers, and with centrally and internally disposed lugs or projections to dctern'iine the extent to which the pipe ends shall enter the coupling, or in other words, to center the pipe sections in the coupling, and said central lugs are preferably of a character which will permit them to yield or crush under excessive strain so that when necessary a cou pling sleeve or coupling center may be driven along or oil the pipe. In the'case of cast metal couplings said centrally disposed lugs are, of course, cast with the coupling, but in case of malleable .or wrought metal couplings the practice hcrctolm'e has been to produce said centrally disposed lugs either by upsetting the metal of the coupling from without, by means of.a punch or other suitable tool, or by welding the lugs or proicctions on the interior of the coupling. The first. method, viz., upsetting the metal from without, reduces the thickness of the metal at that point of the'coupling, leaves a dcpression in its outcrsurt'auzc, which is re: lily attacked by corrosion, and which eventually weakens the coupling; while the second method, "viz., the welding; he lugs to the inner face ot the coupling); renders the lugs very frangible and liable to be broken oil by a strain much less than the coupling should be normally able to resist.

The object of my present invention is the production of a coupling center of the char-- acter described, wherein the centering lugs on the interior ol the coupling-center shall be constituted by and integral with the body metal of the coupling-center, the coupling center itsell' shall be reinforced at said point or points, and its exterior surface shall be continuous or unbroken; and my invention, generally stated, en'thraccs a thrcadlcss coupling having the characteristics above noted.

In the drawings chosen to illustrate my invention, the scope \vhcrco'l is pointed out; in the claims, l igurc 1 is a central section ot a thrcadlcss couplirig-center cinlmdying my invention. Fig. .3 a. similar section of the coupling-center shown in Fig. 1, and of the ends of pipes coupled thereby, the usual gaskets, rinp followers, and bolts which complete the coupling being shown by dot ted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the operative portions of mechanism which may be employed to produce my coup]ingmcntei, and l ig. t is an enlarged sectimial view of a portion ol' the plate from which the couplinQ-contcr l't'iruurd, having the ccntmiru, tar, thereon as the plate comes from the machine. I

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur. I

1 will now prm-ccd to describe my invention more full so that others skilled in the art to which it appcrtains may apply the same.

In the drawings, A indicates a coupling center having: the centering lupfs or projections a ra on its interior, said lugs being disposed centrally at the ring or coupling nuuuber A, and being preferably two in another arranged at di'mnctrically opposite points on the interior of the coupling center.

lmlicated by dotted lines at ll, .3 are the gaskets, at G, C the ring followers, and at l), .l) the bolts which go to complete the ((Hfpllttfj as a whole.

i .t'] indicate the ends of the pipes which the coupling. is intended to connect, and it will be noted that as illustrated in the drawings the pipe sections are in alinelnent and the ends in contact with the center lugs or projections n c. of the coupling ccntcr A, but in the absence ot threads on pipe and. the coupling; center the pipes may ae-numc any relation to the coupling that the lay of the ground may demand, and the lugs a will prevent the ends oi the sections t'rom being crowt'lcd beyond the center of the couplin".

l n producing the coupling center A, ith the internal central projections a, I first place the plate A, brought to a Welding heat, upon a suitable bed or die having a lug recess corresponding to the form and posi tion of the lug or projection a to be produced. I next place upon the upper or {er surface of plate A a piece of metal a of like character as that in plate A, also brought to a Welding heat, and then by means of a suitable hammer, drop, or its equivalent, force the metal a into the outer or upper surface of said plate A and by the same operation force metal from the body of plate A into the lug recess of the bed or die of themachine, thus producing a conpling-center having the lugs or stops 0 on its interior formed from and integral With the body of the metal constituting the coupling ring A, the ring A- having a continuous outer surface and being reinforced as at a by the metal which has been Welded to and consolidated with the outer surface of the coupling center.

F or the purposes of this specification I have shown in the drawing, as mechanism adapted for the purpose, an anvil or bedl having a lug recess 1', a drop or hammer member 2, and a slide 3 to confine the plate A, but as the devices employed for creating the center lugs a on the inner face of the coupling center A, constitute no part of the present invention, it isto be understood that any suitable mechanism can be em ployed for that purpose.

Having thus described my invention,

what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A coupling-center provided on itsinterior With centering lugs integral with and constituted by the body metal. of the coupling center, and having metal reinforcing p1eces Welded to the exterior of the body metal of the coupling-center behind said centering lugs. Y

2. A coupling-center provided on its interior with centering lugs integral with and constituted by the body metal of the coupling-center, and having metal reinforcing 

